81321279-Policy Advice and Capacity building on Urban & Regional Development in Moldova for EU-Accession

The "Strong Businesses and Communities for Moldova" (SBC) project is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and co-funded by the European Union (EU) and the Swiss Government. The project is implemented by the German Development Cooperation through GIZ in the time frame from 01/2022-12/2026. It has the objective to improve the socio-economic development prospects of the population in Moldovan municipalities. The strategy of the projects builds on a multi-level approach and complements targeted interventions across five distinct outputs in selected partner municipalities with advisory support to the national policy level. Output 2 "Integrated Urban Development", in which the consultancy services requested are anchored, seeks to strengthen the capacities of selected partner cities to apply integrated urban development procedures as well as to improve the corresponding policy framework on the national level. On the one hand, the project team works on local level with city administrations on the implementation of the National Program for Growth Poles. In addition to strategic and organizational consulting for the implementation of the program, the focus is on technical and process consulting for the participatory preparation of infrastructure projects that are ready for financing. The city administrations are also supported in connecting with national or international financing partners. Moreover, on the basis of existing socio-economic development strategies, the city administrations are provided with technical support in developing urban plans in a selected sector (e.g. sustainable mobility, waste management or green areas/open space) in a participation-oriented and cross-sectoral manner. On the other hand, the project team advises the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development (MIRD) on improving the policy framework for sustainable municipal, urban and regional development as well as the vertical dialogue between the actors involved in activities in the partner cities. A key focus lies on supporting the MIRD in coping with the requirements in their policy domain resulting from the EU accession negotiations with Moldova, which have been officially opened by the European Council in December 2023. The first Intergovernmental Conference marking the formal launch of the accession negotiations was held on 25 June 2024 and the Commission started the bilateral phase of the screening process immediately after in July 2024. A national referendum to anchor EU integration in the Moldovan Constitution took place together with the presidential election on 20 October 2024. The proposal to enshrine EU accession in the Constitution was supported by 50,38% of voters. The policy advisory of the project focuses on supporting the Moldovan Government and more specifically the MIRD in complying with the requirements of the EU Acquis as they are set out in Cluster V "Resources, Agriculture and Cohesion", Chapter 22 "Regional Policy and Coordination of Structural Instruments".